Kings continue road swing by challenging Canucks

KINGS (22-15-9) at CANUCKS (28-15-3)

TV: FS-W (HD), SNET-P (HD)

Last 10: Los Angeles 5-1-4; Vancouver 6-3-1

Season Series: This is the third of four meetings with each team picking up a regulation win in Los Angeles.

Big Story: The Kings have just one regulation loss in their last 14 games. They're not exactly winning at a record pace -- they are 8-1-5 in that stretch -- but the Kings are squeezing points out of almost every game. The Canucks, meanwhile, are 2-2 since beating the Boston Bruins a week ago and coming off a tough home loss to the Ducks on Sunday night.

Team Scope:

Kings: Sunday night's 2-1 overtime loss to the Oilers is a perfect example of what the Kings have been doing lately. They trailed 1-0 entering the third period, riding goaltender Jonathan Quick and struggling to score. But Jason Williams tied it to force OT, where Taylor Hall won it for Edmonton on a power play.

It's not two points, but one is better than none.

"That was tough scheduling," coach Darryl Sutter said of back-to-back games in Calgary and Edmonton. "That's a pretty good explanation for our start. We got three out of four points in Alberta. I'm all right with that. I'll take the point."

Canucks: Roberto Luongo didn't get a lot of support in the Canucks' 4-2 loss to Anaheim on Sunday night. He made 30 saves as the Canucks only put 23 shots on Jonas Hiller.

Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome was minus-3 while Kevin Bieksa was called for three minor penalties.

Who's Hot: Quick has allowed two goals or fewer in seven of his last eight starts for the Kings. Alexandre Burrows has 4 goals and an assist in his last 5 games for the Canucks.

Injury Report: Los Angeles forward Simon Gagne (concussion) is out indefinitely, while Scott Parse will miss the remainder of the season for hip surgery. … Defenseman Sami Salo (concussion) is out for Vancouver, and Andrew Ebbett underwent surgery to repair a broken collarbone suffered last Saturday in Boston. He is not expected back until the playoffs at the earliest.

Stat Pack: Even with just one goal in Edmonton, the Kings are on fire offensively of late with 14 goals in their last four games. That's impressive for the NHL's 30th-ranked team in goal scoring.

Puck Drop: "I don't know the reason for it, but obviously our first two periods weren't good enough," Bieksa said of the Canucks' loss to the Ducks. "We had three shots on net in the first and for an offensive team that scores a lot of goals, obviously that's not good enough. Give them credit, they're a lot better team than they are in the standings, but we didn't execute in the first two periods for whatever reason."

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